Reminiscent Memories
by Hoshinka
Summary: "A reality that won't, and never will, happen," Alice said with a nod. "There's no way Lorina could die so young and easily. Not her of all people." In Wonderland, anything can be the truth, if you believe hard enough. And Alice Liddell may be the most idealistic cynic of them all.
1. The Beginning

_The Beginning._

* * *

 _Is it my fault?_

Rain poured down heavily outside of the building, perfect for such a gloomy occasion.

Everyone there in there wore all black, different tones of the shade everywhere the eye could see—all but for one person, who happened to be wearing a simple black dress with a darker cardigan. Resting on her shoulder was a large, dark handbag; what she wore that wasn't black, however, was a light blue ribbon on her head decorated with a heart on one side; on her right wrist was an equally light blue wristband that had white lace on the edges.

She had light brown hair that could also be called dirty blonde with teal eyes that were emotionless at the moment. Looking around, she saw the pitiful looks people gave her and her family. Some people even had sad expressions on, mourning for the loss. She could tell that they were faking their apparent emotions.

She hated it.

She simply hated how they all faked their feelings; she knew very well herself that they could care less for the death of her beloved sister. The only reason why they were there was either that they couldn't refuse going to the event, felt too sympathetic for her family (or namely, her father), or wished to get on the good side of the Liddell family. (While her family was strictly middle-class, that didn't mean that they didn't have good connections or weren't influential enough to be considered important.)

In the corner, sobbing heavily but quietly, was her younger sister, Edith. Face buried in the palms of her hands, she let tears out freely: Something the girl would have loved to do as well. The only reason why she didn't cry as hard (or even harder) than her younger sister was because she knew what her elder sister would have wanted: No tears to be shed, and for the rest of the family to continue to be happy.

Whatever her definition of happiness was.

 _But how can I be happy at_ all _if you're gone, Lorina?_ she thought, at loss for such a thought. _First Mother, now you; I have no one now. Edith hates me and Father's long since lost himself in his work._

"The poor soul, look at her, crying in the corner over there—"

"Look at the older one, not even looking sad—"

"I heard that she didn't even cry when her mother died several years ago—"

 _Stop._ She shut her eyes tightly, tuning the hurtful words of the others out. _Just stop. You don't understand my feelings at all, so why talk as if you know everything?_

Once again opening her teal eyes, she directed her thoughts to something else: Where was her father?

 _Forget it, it doesn't matter anymore_ , she thought bitterly. _He doesn't care anymore either. He probably doesn't even know of Lorina's fate._

She shook off the thought, knowing it most likely true, and looked about a bit more: She found her sister's fiancé standing by the coffin, dabbing away his tears with a hankerchief embroidered by Lorina herself. _My ex-boyfriend who pretended to love me but set his eyes on Lorina instead._ The thought came to her mind so naturally and subtly that she glazed over it, lost in other thoughts among things. However, the gossiping ladies nearby were not too discreet in their talking and the girl overheard bits of their conversation clearly.

"Such an unfortunate family, first Lorina, then her daughter..."

"I find it quite a coincidence that they both had the same first name," a woman whispered.

"Ooh! Maybe some type of misfortune is tied to the name? Or perhaps a family thing? Every Lorina Liddell dying untimely deaths?"

 _How can they talk about this so easily? Do they not know how disrespectful it is for them to speak of such things at a funeral of all places? Especially so shamelessly at Lorina's?_

"I don't know, hm... Both mother and daughter were oddly similar; almost exact features and personality. Both of them were certainly very mature and—"

"Edith is also quite mature and very polite—"

"Alice, on the other hand, is..."

 _Stop._

She knew what was going to be said next. She knew that she was not as polite or mature or ladylike or anything _else_ , at that matter. Especially she was not any of those when compared to her siblings and mother. Of course not, no; she had never been the favoured one. Not being able to take anymore, she ran out the building, not taking any care in slamming open the doors or about the perplexed looks people had (the gossiping ladies had inferred that they'd been overheard and therefore stopped gossiping for the rest of the week altogether), and ran out into the rain.

Fresh, cold, pouring rain. She didn't care as the rain drenched her and her outfit, it felt good. Refreshing, even. Drops of rain dripped from the ends of her waist length hair, some making their way down their cheeks.

Or were they tears rather raindrops? Not even she knew anymore. She couldn't tell if she was crying or not, whether it be due to the numbness from the cold or the fact that she could no longer hold all her emotions in any longer. The pain that the cold rain eased was not much, and the temporary comfort left as soon as it came.

"Lorina, why?" she whispered quietly, almost inaudibly. "Why did you leave? Was it..."

Eventually, she found her way under a tree in an abandoned park, for no one wished to be out in the rain. She was glad for that. She had privacy and a sense of secureness when she was alone and distanced from others. All she wanted to do was mourn for her sister; her kind, truly beautiful sister. The only person she looked up to after her mother had left. The only person who loved her and understood her perfectly, unlike everyone else.

Taking her handbag off, she put it behind her back as a sort of pillow to rest her back on: an attempt to make sitting under a tree more comfortable. It had been stuffed full, the zipper looking as if it were going to pop open any moment. It worked well as a pillow, but provided little comfort from what she wanted.

 _Emotional comfort._ Not physical comfort, but emotional comfort.

Pulling her knees up, she hid her face, staying in the position for hours. She didn't even notice when the sun disappeared and nighttime appeared. She didn't care that it was dangerous for a young lady such as herself to be out alone under the moon and stars. She didn't care that it was still raining, albeit considerably lighter; nor did she even notice how her body was stiff and sore from the hours of staying in a single position.

What she _did_ care about, however, was that her sister was gone.

She had long since cried (something that made her wonder if Edith was still crying too) all her emotions dry, leaving her feeling raw, alone, and empty. It was not a kind or welcome feeling, but she found it fitting. Maybe it was the closest feeling she could go to feeling happy ever again. _Not that I mind_ , she thought whilst smiling sadly, _it's oddly comforting. More so than the rain. But even_ this _feeling of comfort will disappear soon enough... Just like the one that the rain provided._

Smiling humorlessly, she remembered the cruelness of how the content feeling she had left, slowly leaving with bits of her feelings. Her feelings were all mixed up now. Grief, remorse, bitterness; even feelings that she didn't know how to describe. She felt them dancing about in her mind, making her relive the moment she discovered of her sister's death.

"Stop," she whispered, her voice weak and hoarse from the coldness slowly making its way into her body and her hours of crying. She still wanted to cry, actually, which made her voice even weaker. "Stop it... please. Just stop it."

The quiet pitter-patter of the rain on the ground filled the background, creating an eerie effect with the odd shadows of the park.

She continued sitting there, occasionally falling asleep, tears flowing out whenever, and thinking. Only once or twice did she stop to think of the state she was in: Her outfit was surprisingly all right (she had put many things into her handbag, since she planned on leaving her family's house immediately after Lorina's funeral anyways), with only a few wrinkles here and there; it was not so bad that it was unsightly. It looked natural within the few ruffles of the black dress hiding it well. Her eyes were puffy, clearly from crying so much, but not very red, and the puffiness was barely noticeable. But her usual straight hair, however... she didn't care much, but the state it was in was inexcusable. It was tangled, oddly messy in a curly way, and simply a horrible sight to be seen. She made the best of what she had prepacked into her bag (which was a surprisingly lot) and managed to tie it into two neat plaits framing the side of her face; a hairstyle Lorina liked to use on her when she was much younger.

Other than that, she didn't do much. She did buy some food from some nearby stands, only for the sake for her body to continue working, and she only bought the minimum amount of food she needed: Anymore than that amount made her feel sick enough to let it all go back up. Once or twice she considered moving to a new spot, for worry that someone might notice her, but she kept her distance and made sure no one saw her.

On the third night of her stay under the park tree, she finally decided to move. Her family obviously didn't care for her, as there was no sign of them trying to find her whereabouts, but she was starting to become worried that someone would find her easily and find out that she was staying there. It wasn't too hard to figure out, considering how there was a pressed place on the grass where she sat and how she had a number of necessities being carried with her. The rain had lessened by each day, and it was more than clear that it was to be a perfectly warm sunny day starting the next morning.

She unhung her cardigan from the lowest branch and put it on, along with her bag. She didn't give much thought as she ventured forwards into the woods behind the park, as long as it was far enough for people not to bug her.

"I wonder if he ever went... to place his flower and give his respects, at the very least..." she said, hoping her father did go to his eldest daughter's funeral. Even if it were for a minute, it would have sufficed enough.

She remembered her last image of her beloved sister, lying in the beautiful white coffin. She had a peaceful expression on, eyes shut gently, hands clasped together below her chest, white roses surrounding her; she was the prime image of tranquility and eternal rest in her mind. The image was too much for the girl once again, as if taunting the fact that Lorina was to never open her eyes again...

"... The forest here is different to how it looked when I first entered it," she noted, looking at the nonsensical signs and doors scattered about the tree trunks and such. "... Is this some sort of Halloween decoration?"

It was supposed to be nearing the end of October. She hadn't been paying attention to the days, but it wouldn't be surprising if it were all a Halloween decoration. The people who lived in the town where she lived were all very festive and celebrative. Of all places, they were certainly the most enthusiastic, especially compared to herself, as she'd long outlived the seemingly childish games and holidays. But even she had to admit that the other citizens' decorating skills were incredibly commendable and impressive, some of them peculiar but amazing in their own right.

Sighing, she found a comfortable and reserved-enough tree to lay down below, although all of them were almost identical down to the sign placements; she fell asleep instantaneously, not noticing how it was broad daylight out due to the thickness of the foliage.

For the first time in the three nights she slept after Lorina's funeral, she finally dreamt something once again.

But it was not much of a dream as it more to the like of reality, reliving cruel memories.

A passing figure noticed her and started walking towards her soundlessly as she whispered loudly in her sleep, "It's all my fault... I'm sorry... It's my fault..."

* * *

 **Disclaimer: The HNKNA series and its related characters all belong to QuinRose.  
I think once is enough to apply for this whole story.**

 **First of all, thank you to everyone checking this out; Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years! Please note, this is a reupload of an old story from my older account, ReflectiveFragments. I've chosen to move this story onto here for archiving; it was originally posted in March 2012.**

 **It's currently on hiatus, but I hope you enjoy it, regardless; I hope to update this one day.**


	2. Heart: It's All a Dream?

_Heart: It's All a Dream?_

* * *

 _"_ _...ce..._ _"_

 _The girl whipped her head around, looking for who was whispering the broken words into the air. All she found was a surrounding, dense forest around the large clearing she was standing on; the only place where the sun and sky could be seen. But the sun was quickly disappearing behind dark gray clouds (similar to how any of her own joyous feelings were hidden by the thick emotions of loss and grief). Even the sky was slowly disappearing, becoming nothing but a blacked-out screen. Somehow, the forest around managed to retain its greenness; that did not help much though._

 _"_ _... ice..._ _"_ _the whispered words came from all directions, not quite mad but not very reassuring either; they were more of a begrudging hiss_ _"_ _It's all your fault..._ _"_

 _The girl's eyes widened, flashes of scenes passing through her head_ _—_

"Oh, isn't it such a fine day today?" asked Lorina brightly, smiling at her sister.

The younger girl smiled in agreement, albeit a weak smile, and slowly followed her sister as she sat down under the tree in the corner of their garden (a place that had been unanimously decided as their personal sitting tree for all the years they sat together under it), nervously fidgetting about with her dress lace.

"If you fiddle around anymore with your dress, you might ruin it," Lorina teased lightly. After a moment of silence, she frowned, almost unnoticeably and an expression of worry crossed upon her lovely features. "... Is there anything wrong?"

"Well..."

 _—_ _the memories kept on flashing about, as if replaying clips from a vivid movie. Except the movie was no film production or based on a made-up story; it was real, it happened, and it was a part of her own life story._

 _"_ _It's your fault,_ _"_ _the voices whispered cruelly,_ _"_ _all your fault. You caused her death..._ _"_

 _"_ _No! Stop it,_ _"_ _she yelled at them, covering her ears in an attempt to muffle the voices out. She failed horribly, the voices seemingly more clear and even louder than before._

 _"_ _It's all YOUR fault,_ _"_ _they continued pitilessly._ _"_ _It_ _'_ _s entirely your fault. You caused the death of your sister. You killed her. You killed LORINA LIDDELL._ _"_

 _"_ _STOP IT!_ _"_ _her voice boomed, rising up highing than the whispers by far._

 _All went silent for a moment, and the forest started rustling once again, but this time without whispers. Rather, there was a more regular, deep voice that resounded around her, giving a feeling of calmness than the previous cruel one. The voice still made her feel uncomfortable and wary, but certainly it was not unwelcoming._

 _"_ _If you don't wish to remember, forget,_ _"_ _said the deep voice._ _"_ _Forget all of your pain and enjoy yourself in this little wonderland... Alice Liddell. And remember..._ _"_

Alice awoke with a gasp, bolting upright immediately. She was covered in cold sweat, causing her thin nightgown to stick to her in an awkward way.

"That dream..." she muttered, covering her face with a hand. "... It was..."

 _So real._

"Sister..."

 _Was it really my fault?_

She pinched herself, once, twice, thrice; the pain somehow made her feel better. It numbed down her thoughts and emotions for the slightest moment. But it was only a temporary relief and did not help anything permanently. Alice knew that perfectly fine.

However, her emotions were contradicting each other; one part of her denied Lorina's death being any part her fault. Another agreed that it was her fault... but then there was the small portion that gave her a speck of hope: _It was only a dream. Lorina never died. It was just a very realistic nightmare._

 _Was it really?_ the part of her that accepted the truth asked. _Are you sure you simply aren't in denial?_

 _Who said it was denial? The whole thing wasn't anyone's fault_ , the denying thoughts responded.

 _It was all a nightmare. Nothing happened. Lorina's alive and waiting for me at the tree in the corner of our garden. She probably has the tea all ready as usual and a nice large psychology book_ , the hopeful, but false, part of her reasoned believably.

So believably that she went with it. There was no way Lorina was dead: It was all just a very cruel nightmare. A little hallucination in her sleep that her mind was cruel enough to twist into an incredibly convincing possible reality.

"A reality that won't, and never will, happen," Alice said with a nod. "There's no way Lorina could die so young and easily. Not her of all people."

Pleased enough with the thought, she looked around her surroundings, frowning. If she had dreamt falling asleep in the forest after leaving the one in the park, then shouldn't she have been in her own room, in her own bed? But she wasn't.

Rather, she was sitting up on a bed with a black bedding. The covers were red with fancy black and gold embroidery. There were deep scarlet satin drapes hanging from the ceiling, pulled back with knotted ribbons onto the highest corners of the bedpost.

"How did I get... _here_? Where is this?" Alice asked skeptically, absentmindedly scratching her sweaty shoulder.

 _Wait._

 _Hold up right there._

That wasn't right. The strap of her nightgown was different compared to the ones she usually wore. Instead, it was a thin spaghetti strap; the overall outfit stopped mid-thigh and was a deep wine colour.

Definitely not her style. Or anything she would dare wear.

"How in the _world_ did I get into this nightgown?!" she asked, her voice a pitch higher than usual and her face bright red. She wanted to add _skimpy_ to her definition of the nightgown, but decided against it.

Although it was a very skimpy gown no matter which perspective it was looked through, no exceptions.

She sighed, deciding to ignore why she had such a... short (for lack of better wording) nightgown on. Looking over the room, she guessed that she was in someone's guest room.

The room was very simple, but tastefully decorated. The walls were a checkered diamond pattern of black and red, something that she particularly liked. Normally, she would have found the pattern too busy, but the way that the person who put together the room did it... Simply put, it looked very elegant and pleasing to the eye, but at the same time yelled, "Fun!". On the wall across from her was two doors; one she observed was the bathroom (as the door was open to reveal the sink and shower) and the other, she guessed, was the one that lead out, seeing as there was no other door to serve the purpose (and the window did _not_ count, obviously enough). In the corner was a decent-sized mahogany desk with a jester hat light (something that amused Alice: "How original," she murmured.) There was a small notepad of paper and a little circus tentlike penholder filled with pencils and unique pens. There were some drawers attached to the bottom sides of the desk; neatly tucked in was a cozy-looking wooden chair with a plush red seat atop it. The room also had a moderate bookshelf filled with various books and decorations; next to it was a brownish-red wardrobe. Other than those, the room didn't have any more furniture, besides the nightstand by the bedside. There was also two white sofas facing each other with a coffee table of wood-framed stained glass between them in the centre of the room.

"Why does the lead lining of the glass resemble something like a map?" Alice noted, climbing out of the bed and looking carefully at the coffee table's intricate design.

Sure enough, it was a map. In small letters rimming around the glass, she could make out the words _Country of Joker/April Season Time_ circling the entire thing. In the middle was what looked like red and white and black tents of a circus being surrounded by a thick forest of arrows and doors.

 _The forest of arrows and doors..._ She froze for a moment, remembering her 'dream' of when she fell asleep in the forest after her sister's funeral. _No. That can't be... I must still be dreaming. But why am I not waking up if that's the case?_

 _Some dreams are too stubborn to stop, Alice_ , part of her convinced herself. _It's normal._

Something about the thought made her want to argue, but she didn't bother. Afterall, what was the point of arguing with yourself?

In the top left corner was a large maze that lead to a thin rising of land to a castle full of hearts; a small red heart was beside it. The bottom-left had a large mansion with a blue spade hiding in the corner of the depiction. The bottom-right had a number of towers jutting up awfully high in a way that screamed, "I'm so much better and mightier than you," to her (not literally) with green clubs. The last large mapped area was the top-right, which showed what resembled a crazy-looking amusement park with a very large pool that took up a large portion of land; a yellow diamond was by it. Smaller, less-important looking areas, were towns next to some of the larger areas. The rest was pretty much more forest.

"This map," she gave it a peculiar look, "I have a feeling that it might be important..."

Alice looked around the room, searching for a scrap of paper that might suffice better than a small note, before laying her eyes on her handbag and dress; both of which were on the nightstand (how she didn't notice earlier, she didn't know herself). She walked over to it and dug out a pen (she was a bit too lazy to walk over to the desk to get one) allow with her notebook. With a few quick glances towards the table map, she roughly drew out a map of what was apparently the "Country of Joker", drawing what could be considered circus tents and the four deck symbols in their respective places. Under them, she wrote what the places were depicted as ("Castle of Hearts", "Amusement Park", etc.) and drew the basic outlines of each town. She wasn't the most artistic of people, but she was satisfied enough with the copy of the map, so she stuffed the notebook and pen back into her bag.

Alice looked pointedly at her black dress and cardigan (still telling herself that she was in a dream), then at her nightgown... then at her original outfit again. It was clear enough of what her intentions were.

She grabbed her bag and outfit and went straight to the bathroom.

The mirror reflected a horrifying sight. Terrible hair that was made messier from her braids coming loose during her sleep and messed up by tosses and turns; tear streaked cheeks and puffy red eyes; even some specks of grass and dirt caked her skin. Her black dress and cardigan were cleaned, oddly enough, but she decided against wearing them. She didn't want to remember the previous events of her dream, even if it was all made-up. Instead, she emptied her bag and put the outfit in the deepest pocket, taking out a blue dress with a white apron in its stead. Out came maroon old jane shoes with blue-and-white striped stockings; she managed to find her lace wristband and blue-with-gold bow between the ruffles of her black dress. She put the rest of her things back into the bag, careful to make it all orderly, and set her new outfit down to the counter.

 _With the state of my hair..._ She fingered a bent lock of hair that stayed at an unusual sight of a ninety-degree angle. _And the rest of my appearance..._

Alice gave a sigh and set down a clean white towel from the shelf over the sink onto the bar.

 _I hope that the owner of the place doesn't mind if I used his shower._

After cleaning herself up properly, which took an unbelievable amount of time, Alice rendered herself clean enough and stepped out of the bathroom, letting out steam. She had her light blue dress on, a pristine white apron over it. Her bow was rested on her head and the wristband on her right wrist. Her stockings were knee-length and her dress stopped just below it; her old janes allowed her height to be taller slightly but in a natural way. Slung over her shoulder was her bag, which looked very out of place with its gloomy colour against the pastel blue hues of the dress and bright gold rings.

Her overall cleanliness and appearance improved after washing. Her skin was once again dirt-free and eyes barely puffy. Alice was especially pleased with how her hair returned to its normal straight-to-waist length. Somehow, she managed to towel-dry it, which, on usual circumstances, never worked too well, but this time the results were satisfying.

After a bit of contemplating, she made the bed neatly and made her way to the exit. Just as she was going to open the door—

"Ow!" Alice exclaimed in pain as the door hit her face.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, young miss! Please accept my deepest apologies; are you all right? That looked quite nasty," the redhead apologized—she guessed that he was the one who hit her with the door.

"It's... it's okay. No need to apologize, it was just an accident. And don't worry, it didn't hurt too much at all," Alice responded with a smile towards the man, looking up.

 _... Why do I feel so short, even with how tall my shoes make me?_ A drop of sweat rolled down her neck as the thought passed her mind. _I wouldn't mind being a few centimetres taller... especially when looking at this guy._

The man wore a jester's hat—the design was different from a typical jester's hat, however—and had some type of mask piece that covered his right (from Alice's perspective) eye. He had wine red hair and a crimson eye and wore a light gray shirt with a darker jacket and a scarf tied around his neck, clasped into a half-bow by a red brooch. A circle of golden rings hung from his shoulders. A red-and-black checkered cloth was tied around his waist, a white gold-rimmed belt with four roses and a mask holding it up in place. Vertically striped red-and-black pants and pointed shoes finished off the look.

It was quite clear to Alice that he was a circus master. Or, by the least, that he was in a circus.

 _I like his outfit, it's very... interesting_ , she thought. _And why must I be so_ short _?!_

"Miss? Did you hear me?"

"Oh—I'm sorry, I'm still a bit lightheaded after sleeping."

It was a lie, but it was also a reasonable enough excuse.

"Tch. She's probably just using that as an excuse to stare at your face, Joker." A series of what might've been described as robotic laughter followed, sounding roughly like, "Kekekekekekekeke."

Creepy was the best word to describe the laugh.

"What? Of course not, that's rude to do, and that was rude of _you_ to say—er... pardon me, but who am I talking to exactly?" She blushed slightly whilst giving Joker—she guessed that was the man's name, as the voice had addressed him as that—an indignant look.

Joker pointedly looked at the mask resting on the four roses of his belt.

"Nice to meet you, the name's Joker," it greeted. Sure enough, the voice came from the mask.

"V... ventriloquism?" Alice managed to choke out in surprise.

"Haha, while I can do ventriloquism, I'm afraid that it's—"

"'Course not. What are you, an idiot?" the mask asked, cutting off Joker.

"I'm _not_ an idiot, thank you," she responded, feeling very insulted.

 _Especially_ when she was considering the fact that a mask was insulting her senseless.

"Now, now, Joker," said Joker, covering the mask with his hand, barely muffling out the string of profanities let out. "Sorry, young miss. Joker has a very colourful palette, as you can hear. Please don't take any of his words personally; he's quite insensitive of others' feelings."

She heard something among the lines of, "Insensitive my ass," but chose to ignore it.

"Don't worry, I'm not insulted." _That much_ , she wished to add, but decided against the thought.

After a moment of silence, Joker said, "Well, how about we take a seat?" He gestured towards the two sofas and they sat.

"I found you sleeping under a tree in my forest." He paused, pointing a finger at the tents in the middle of the glass map. "You're currently in my Circus."

"A circus?" Alice asked, looking around the room. "... That might explain some things."

"Indeed. But how exactly did you get here, miss? Usually no one ventures into Joker territory, except for when a Circus event is taking place."

"I don't know. I walked into a forest from a park... and then I ended up there and decided to take a rest." She decided to explain what happened before waking up... in this dream. She decided to not add how everything wasn't reality, though.

Afterall, what was the point of explaining how it was a dream to a person _from_ the dream?

"Hm... Could it be that you're a foreigner, miss?"

"I don't exactly know what you mean by 'foreigner'; I don't exactly know where I am right now." Alice frowned. _Actually... that should've been the first thing that I wanted to ask: Where am I?_

"Well, you're currently in the Country of Joker at the moment. Er, not exactly the Country of Joker, actually... more like the Country of Clover and Heart combined, you can say. But it's called the Country of Joker despite that," Joker explained, waving his hand over the table.

She stared in amazement as the table expanded and there were two more maps added; one that had the rimming of _Country of Hearts_ and another _Country of Clovers_.

In the Country of Heart map, it was essentially the same as the Joker Country map, except for the fact that there was no clover-decorated tower and no Circus. The top left had the maze that lead to a thin trail to the Castle; what dominated most of the right area was the Amusement Park; the bottom-left was the large mansion; and the middle of it all had a tower surrounded by twelve other small towers, resembling a clock. Surrounding the towers was a town and the rest was forestry.

The Clover Country map wasn't all that different, seeing as it only had a few differences. The maze and Castle was still in the same place; instead of the amusement park, there was a forest of colourful doors and signs and mushrooms; the mansion stayed in its place; instead of the Clock Tower, there was the Tower of Clovers.

Alice took another look at the map of Joker Country. True enough to Joker's word, the Country of Joker was pretty much a combination of Heart and Clover, the only exception being the Circus.

"However, there will be a Move soon. The Circus has already come to an end for this April Season." Joker paused, then explained, "You see, miss, you're in Wonderland. I don't know how you got here, but you're a foreigner, as you're not from here."

Alice nodded, taking the information to heart. _This is all a dream though, isn't it?_

 _Of course it is, Alice._

"A 'Move' is when a country moves. For lack of better wording, you can say that you can fall asleep in Heart Country and wake up the next morning in Clover Country. It's hard to explain, but you'll see soon enough.

"As for April Season... I'll let you find out next time yourself." He gave a secretive smile, and then continued, "It seems our time is cut short. The Circus has finished packing up now; soon enough, the Move will happen and you will end up in the Country of Heart. Allow me to escort you out."

Alice stayed silent as Joker lead her out of the room, into the hallways of a building. Just as they turned around a corner, he disappeared completely; she was left alone in a series of complicated hallways.

"J-Joker?"

No response.

 _I suppose I'll have to find my own way out, then...?_

She sighed and started walking through the intricate turns, the sound of the sole of her shoes tapping the ground filling the halls.

"Just... Just how many hallways are there here?! This is simply ridiculous!" Alice cried out in frustration half an hour later. _Gee, Joker, thanks for escorting me out of here._ "Good gracious..."

She shut her eyes, trying to calm down as she continued making her way through. It was an attempt to calm down, of course, but it helped her feel better somewhat. That was, until she walked into a wall.

A cold, gray _cement_ wall.

 _Brilliant. Walk into a cement wall. Simply lovely._

 _Wait. Back up; cement? Weren't the walls made of normal plasterboard?_

Alice raised an eyebrow at the thought, but continued to follow the next turn; she was surprised to find a series of jail cells following it. Along with chains and broken toys.

"... And now I'm in a prison. How on earth did this happen?" She sighed, shaking her head at her own misfortune.

Going against her better decisions on turning back, Alice let her curiousity get the best of her and she continued going on.

The cells were all empty, which was something she didn't expect; what type of prison was nothing but jail cells? _But since this is an empty prison, then doesn't that mean that there are no criminals or law-breakers? So isn't it a good thing?_

Her thoughts continued on like that, and she was pleased; at least her dream was a place with good people, despite its oddness... right? Despite the seemingly reassuring thought to herself, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of false security on that fact.

The overall place was very gray—not that it was surprising—which would've been expected save for all the broken toys. At first, Alice didn't mind the toys too much. But the sheer amount of them started to creep her out. Along with the fact that they seemed to be watching her every move, eyeing her with their black, beady eyes; it was a very uncomfortable feeling, oh yes it was indeed.

"Why did I even decide to walk into this place?" she scolded herself idiotically, regretting her curiosity getting the best of her. "I wish I could get out of here... Hopefully I can wake up from this..." she trailed off, trying to think of a good word to describe Wonderland, " _interesting_ dream soon. Lorina might be waiting for me... but then again, it depends on the time. And dreams do tend to pass time quickly... Hm."

Continuing her thoughts, she eventually noted how the lights started dimming after each step she took deeper into the prison. She stopped abruptly in front of one cell, noticing how it was the only one she ever saw occupied within the prison. Squinting her eyes, she tried to get a clearer view of the blurred-out figure in the cell.

"N-no way..." Her eyes widened in disbelief and shock.

As Alice was mid-step towards the cell, the walls of the prison started to twist and turn in a dizzying way; colours blended together, reality starting to merge with an unknown force. Still, her gaze stayed on the figure till the last moment when she suddenly blacked out.

Even in her state of unconsciousness, however, she could hear a faint laugh.

It wasn't a laugh of mirth or anything pleasant-sounding by the least. Rather, it was, in a way, a taunting laugh; it sounded half-hysterical and half-knowing. A flash of red and white was the last thing she thought of before becoming fully unconscious.

Alice woke up—not under a tree, which was what she was expecting—on top of what looked like a very high tower. It was in the middle of twelve other towers surrounding it, similar to a clock. There were two hands that pointed towards two numbered towers.

"Was that all... a dream as well?" she asked herself uncertainly, starting to doubt her thoughts. "But... a dream inside a dream? It's too unrealistic for my tastes. But... it all seems so real that I'm doubting it all being a dream..."

The rest of her words were lost in the merciless howling of the wind, her hair whipping about violently. She simply stood as she allowed the wind to blow her hair in all sorts of directions, focusing on nothing but her thoughts.

"But if it weren't a dream... why was Lorina locked up in that cell?"


	3. Heart: Let the Game Begin

_Heart: Let the Game Begin_

* * *

Alice stood up from the cold stone floor of the tower, looking around at the view; she instantly knew she was in the Country of Heart, her memory of the maps being crystal clear.

 _That dream... it was so vivid that I remember every single detail,_ she thought, slightly pleased that a dream could be useful in such a way. _I'm surprised that a map from a dream would be a real one..._

She walked over to the ledge of the tower, a hand on the raised gray block. For fear of becoming dizzy or even falling, her eyes were wisely averted from the ground. Rather, Alice focused on the surrounding landscapes and prominent-looking areas. The Heart Castle was an example, the Amusement Park being another... What she originally thought was just a mansion turned out to be a _very_ large gate with a fence (it wasn't possible to consider it a fence: it was more of a raised wall, similar to the one in the _Humpty Dumpty_ poem) with a small town of its own inside. There was a pathway that lead to a large estate; she could tell that much from the good bit of distance she was from the place. Around the tower she was looking over from were twelve surrounding towers in a clock form; around the total thirteen towers was a modest sized town. The people were as big as pebbles from what she could see, tending to stay as far away from the tower as they could, which Alice found odd. The tower seemed to be a nice place from what she was seeing.

Moving around a bit more, Alice noticed the odd way her apron moved as she walked. Instead of the usual swift and smooth motion, it was rough and more forced; it was just then that she noticed the added weight. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pretty, transparent, multicoloured glass vial with a glass heart stopper; a heart was engraved into one of the sides of the vial. The vial itself was quite heavy, making Alice wonder if it had any liquid or not. To check for sure, she gently took off the stopper, frowning when she found that it was completely empty. The vial was heavy to begin with, which wasn't too surprising (it was made of thick glass, after all), but it _was_ somewhat surprising that there was nothing for it to be filled with. Not a single drop.

"So what's the purpose of this vial? And how did I get it in my pocket?" she asked herself. Then she realized that she was missing something that she _should_ have had. "Wait... where on earth is my bag? Please don't tell me I lost it somewhere...?"

Before she could look around, however, a harsh and rather cold voice deadpanned, "What business might you have here? Who are you? If you don't need anything, then leave right now."

Alice whipped around, facing a tall man with long purple hair. He wore a collar shirt with a clock acting as a tie, a fancy gold vest over it. On his belt, a strap holding a large clock was slung at an angle around his left waist to right hip fashionably, a long black coat hiding most of it. He wore casual black pants and kempt shoes.

Immediately, Alice thought that he was a sensible man with a good sense of cleanliness and neatness.

"I'm sorry, my name is Alice Liddell, I don't really know how I ended up on the roof of this tower..."

"I don't care. Leave if you have no business," he flatly, glaring.

 _Looks like somebody's been grumpy all day_.

Taking one last glance around the tower top, finding no trace of her bag, she sighed and entered the door from which the purple-haired man walked out of. There was only one main path to follow, so she managed to get out of the tower within minutes, unlike how it was in that series of endless hallways to the prison...

 _No, that was a dream, so it doesn't count_ , she thought with a sigh. _But I wonder, since this is a dream, does this count either? But I wonder when I'm going to wake up... Lorina... what are you doing right now, I wonder?_

 _Wait. Where am I even going?_

She paused, her feet halting.

A moment of silence passed; Alice had walked into a green forest, not too far from the tower... The silence of the forest was almost eerie. There seemed to be howls coming from certain directions, the leaves not rustling at all.

Then daylight turned to nighttime. She could only stare at the sky in surprise as she watched it transform from bright sky blue to dark navy blue.

Dread washed over her, the feeling growing bigger by each second she stood there. A deer in the headlight: that was the best way to describe her... in a way. She was clueless on what to do and was still trying to digest the information on just what happened. Not too far away from her, a bush rustled violently.

Alice didn't want to take the chance and decided to make a beeline back to the tower, thinking that she did indeed have business with that man now.

 _My 'business'? Of course: Oh, might you explain to me, sir,_ where the heck am I, why did day just turn to night, what in the name of Queen Elizabeth the First is this vial for, _etc. That should be very legit business to converse over._

She started shivering, not just from the cold, but from fear as well. If it continued, she would probably have to spend the night in the woods till the sun appeared. She initially expected for the moon to provide a substantial amount of light to travel by. True enough, it did have enough light in patches across the forest. They were inconsistent, but they worked; a few minutes later, they disappeared completely, covered up by dark clouds that blocked out the entire sky. The trees didn't rustle despite the strong wind going on.

"This..." Alice frowned in dismay, remembering the dream that she had in the circus dream (as she liked to call it now). The trees didn't whisper any hurtful jabs regarding Lorina or anything else at that matter, but she couldn't help but remember the helpless feeling she had.

The feeling of utter defeat; how everything she was imagining was a wonderful lie.

"It's not a lie, though. It's the truth. This is a dream that I'll wake up from sooner or later," she said convincingly, more to herself than anything.

The words weren't taken to heart. Not completely, at least; a part of her already knew the truth and knew that fully well.

The forest was almost pitch-black. She could barely tell the difference between a rock and a bush, much less be able to tell where a single _tree_ was. It was unbelievably difficult to make her way through the place, and she wasn't sure if she was heading towards the Clock Tower anymore. Her usually excellent sense of direction was completely gone, replaced with a horrid something for a mental map. She felt frustrated, unable to tell where everything was.

She almost tripped over _air_ , for goodness sake. That would've been far enough for most people to start tabletossing.

Too bad she didn't have a table near her to toss. And if she did, she probably wouldn't be able to distinguish what it was. So either way, it didn't really matter all that much anymore.

With a sigh, she continued walking, her feet starting to feel quite sore. Alice wanted to take a rest, perhaps under a tree, but she didn't want to take her chances with all the howling she heard; she didn't want to be eaten in her sleep or (worse) chased by some bear.

 _But does it really matter? After all, it is a dream..._ The thought passed by her mind, but she ignored it anyways. Although it was a dream, there was no reason to not be cautious.

"Dreams are still somewhat like reality while you're in them. You can still feel the pain before waking up," Alice muttered, squinting in an attempt to see something. "Hey... there's a bit of light over there. I wonder if someone's there...?"

A small ways ahead was a light warm glow. It wasn't the type that resembled a fire, but it was more of a sunlight type of glow. It was pleasant and surely that meant that it was fairly safe. Still, she knew better than to fully believe such naïve thoughts, even if the said thoughts were ones of her own.

But if it were a dream, there couldn't be too much harm in believing those naïve thoughts, right?

Making her way towards the glow, she paused. She hadn't expected there to be a pond, much less a pond that glowed. After looking a bit more carefully, however, she realized that it wasn't the _water_ that glowed, but it was the _fish_ swimming serenely in the water.

The trees and plants surrounded the pond in a way that made it strictly fenced off from the rest of the woods. She managed to get into the area (not without getting tangled in the shrubbery a number of times), but noticed how the pond was quite untouched by civilization. The water was crystal-clear and untainted, the life growing in it living without trouble. There was a natural surrounding of rock that bordered the water's edge with moss hanging off in a very pleasant manner. Grass ended up surrounding the rest of the ground till the plant-tree fence began; surprisingly enough, there were no weeds or anything growing, save for some ivy that was a safe ways away from Alice's range.

"Ju-li-us~! Julius, Julius, Julius, hey!" a childish voice sang brightly.

"W-what?" Alice stammered, surprised, looking around.

She saw nothing different, causing her to wonder where the voice came from. Despite that, the voice sounded oddly familiar. Much, much younger, that was for sure.

Not only that, but upon hearing the name 'Julius' being called out... it felt nostalgic, as if she heard that name very often before.

 _Julius Monrey, the Clockmaker_ , she realized with a sudden thought.

She held her head, unsure of how she knew that. She barely even knew who 'Julius Monrey' was, much less how she knew his (she guessed that a girl would surely not be named 'Julius', seeing as the name was masculine) occupation.

 _Clockmaker... I wonder if that means he has to do with the Clock Tower from earlier?_ The thought was interesting to her, and it seemed logical enough: a clockmaker living in a clock tower. Sensible enough. _Maybe he's the man who told me to leave, then...?_

"Yes?" another familiar voice asked patiently. "Is there anything you need?"

 _What's with all this familiarity?_ Alice thought, frustrated slightly at the prospect of almost _everything_ seeming familiar to her at the time, along with the fact of being unable to find the source of the voices.

The conversation between the two familiar voices continued as she scanned her eyes around the darkness, the voices seemingly ringing out from everywhere.

"Play with me? Pleeaaseee!" She could almost imagine a sweet little girl giving a sweet, pleading pout upon hearing this; something she did often enough as a child.

"... You won't accept 'no' as an answer, will you?"

"Nope!"

A resigned sigh followed, knowing it was a battle that could simply not be won.

"My, my," another voice followed amusedly, a few claps following after in a small applaud. "What a purposeful defeat for all the right reasons... of entertaining a child. Oh, Julius, you playboy, you!"

"W-what are you talking about? Do you even know what you're _saying_? In front of a four-year-old, at that?"

"Ooh, hm... softening up, are you, big boy? I wonder if this means you're finally going through _that stage_..."

"What'sh 'that stage', Uncle Vinn-cent?" asked the innocent little girl that Alice imagined. The butchering and mispronunciation only further cuteified (was that even a word?) her mental image.

Finally, Alice set her eyes on the pond: On the surface reflected an image, not unlike a movie being played, of three people, one a little girl, another a teen boy, and the last one a middle-aged man.

As soon as her eyes saw the image, however, the pond rippled unnaturally, as if some unknown force had disturbed its tranquil, and the scene changed to one that Alice dreaded horribly.

" _I hate you, sister! No, not_ sister _; I stopped considering_ you _as_ family _a long time ago!" a girl with neatly-cut shoulder length dark blonde hair yelled, her dull blue eyes fierce with deep scorn and hate._

 _The girl she was screaming at, an older teen that seemed to be three years older, simply stood there silently as she took in the hurtful words. Outside, her expression was indifferent, emotionless even; it was like she never cared of anything the younger girl was screaming at her for. Inside, however, she was screaming as well, but not with hate; rather, it was the type that was full of regret, pain, and pure sorrow. Her heart felt torn apart at her younger sister's words._

" _Why can't you try understand how I feel?" she wanted to ask, but knew better. She already knew the prompt response she would receive, and it felt better not having to hear it from the real person herself. Still, it hurt._

" _You know what? I bet you all my life's worth that you don't give a single damn about_ anything _." The younger girl's tone was flat now, but held a backing of hostility and danger. "You probably wouldn't care if you lost that beloved boyfriend of yours."_

That's not possible, _the older teen thought dully_ , if he was never mine in the first place.

 _The thought intensified the pain she felt. She felt like she was being chained down deeper into the depths of a hell with each jab inflicted at her. Every single verbal jab was like every hit a hammer made to a nail into a surface: each time, it pushed deeper and deeper till the nail was practically part of the surface. There was only one difference this time; the hammer was hitting much further than the surface itself. It was also forcing the nail beneath the surface, deeper and deeper till it was no more._

" _Why aren't you showing any emotion? Why aren't you saying anything,_ Alice _?"_

Alice stood, frozen, watching the scene with a horrified look. She wanted to run away so bad, to escape from having to relive that... but she couldn't. Her whole body refused to budge or give any amount of movement. She wasn't even sure if she was breathing, but she was somewhat sure that she wasn't, considering the heavy pain she felt in her chest.

Or was that a different pain, caused by the memory itself?

She didn't notice as a tear slid down her cheek as she continued watching the scene, knowing full well what to expect next.

" _Afraid to say anything?" Her sister clucked her tongue. "Don't have anything to say? Or are you really as emotionless as a brick as I thought? I wouldn't be surprised if you were a robot: emotionless and uncaring. No heart at all, only a bunch of mechanisms in its place. Oh, I know! How about we go for an X-ray to see, or even cut open your chest?"_

 _The thought said aloud was quite gruesome-sounding, even to speaker herself, but she didn't regret saying it for one moment. She meant every single word, and she never took her word back. She simply wouldn't allow it, either. Alice didn't deserve an apology. Robots didn't need to be apologized to when there was nothing to be apologized about. Robots always took the words without reaction, like a useless doll. In this case, Alice was an unsightly doll that might has well have been a robot. Or vice-versa._

 _Alice stood there, letting her sister verbally stab her again and again. If it helped her ease the pain more, then so be it._

 _Any of her arguing thoughts from earlier had quickly died away. All of them had been replaced with thoughts of agreement with the verbal abuse. She started to embrace the truth. Or what she thought was the truth, anyways._

 _But still, it hurt._

 _The corner of the younger girl's mouth twitched. "Say something! Don't just stand there!"_

 _A prompt slap to Alice's cheek followed, starting to smart immediately after. No flinch. No reaction other than a barely noticeable sway of her body. No emotions showing._

 _It stung, but the feeling was easily numbed down by the internal pain she felt. Before, maybe she would have responded in some way. But now? She didn't care. Maybe her sister was right, maybe she was an emotionless robot with no heart._

" _Edith! What are you doing?"_

 _There came Lorina to the rescue. On her face was an expression of evident shock and disapproval, all directed towards the youngest Liddell._

" _She deserves it." Edith stubbornly folded her arms and turning away._

" _No, Alice doesn't. She hasn't done anything wrong," Lorina said softly, giving Alice a sad look. "This is her way of mourning. You can't expect everyone to mourn the same way."_

"Mourn _! What a joke." Edith forcefully laughed, earning a flinch from Lorina. Tears slowly made her way down her cheeks, and soon enough it was an uncontrollable crying fit. "She's not mourning at all. Alice never cared about Mother. If she did, then she_ should _be crying, or by the least show some emotions. Instead, she's acting like nothing ever happened and being a... a... heartless_ thing _!"_

 _By then, Alice had already left the scene, a wise choice for her sanity. But she could hear Edith's words ring throughout the hallways of the Liddell household loud and clear. In her mind, all of the words she heard kept replaying again and again._

" _Mom wouldn't want us to linger over her death. She would want us to continue being happy and not mourn over her..." she whispered quietly, almost uncertainly._

"... Right...?" Alice asked, now unsure after experiencing the drama for the second time in a different angle (quite literally).

The scene changed once again, now depicting Alice and Lorina.

" _Alice," said Lorina, pouring a cup of rose tea for her sister, "isn't the weather simply lovely today?"_

" _It's all right," Alice mumbled, drinking some of the tea. She continued with a content smile, "But it's not half as lovely as your tea, sister."_

" _Thank you." Lorina gave a beautiful smile._

"Lorina..." Alice looked at the scene before snapping back to her senses.

 _I've got to get away from this place. Too many memories... too painful... Edith... Father... Mother..._

 _... Sister..._

Running as fast as her feet allowed, she ran into the darkness of the woods, far, far away from the pond.

Too focused in her thoughts of running away, she didn't hear the deep voice that echoed through the woods.

"Alice Liddell, it's time to let the Game... begin."


	4. Heart: The Unusual Hatters

_Heart: The Unusual Hatters_

* * *

It was another normal day for the Knight of Hearts as he headed for the Clock Tower. (Or, at least, what he _thought_ was the way towards it.) As he walked, the thick soles of his boots still muddy from a previous encounter leaving behind a faint trail (which was well-hidden), he broke into a small whistling tune. A rare frown was set on his lips when he realized that there was a presence nearby; it was quickly replaced with his trademark idiotic smile, however, as his hand snaked towards his sword.

"Ah, don't you think it's time to show yourself? It's rude to not introduce yourself," he said, smile still on his face; his eyes revealed a none-too-friendly intention.

"Tch. He found out. Oh, well, that doesn't matter too much. Attack!"

A group of men jumped out of a bush, with others following from surrounding areas. Soon enough, the knight was well-surrounded by countless armed men.

"Hmmm... This doesn't seem too fair, does it? A hundred or so armed men against a single knight? It doesn't seem too equal."

"That look of yours states otherwise, you bloody Knight of Hearts," one of the men sneered, taking a shot with his rifle.

"Is that so?" he asked, grinning. His eyes had a malicious light to them. "Well, we'll have to change that then, no?"

With immense speed that the eye could barely notice, he unsheathed his sword and began attacking the men, easily slaying down five on his first move. The other men's faces were filled with alarm as several of them ran away; others stayed bravely, but fighting with no chance of winning. Alas, they had all realized too late, as the thought had only dawned on them during their last moment before they were met with the cold metal of the double-edged blade.

When the knight finished off the last man, he casually wiped the sword's bloody edge with the end of his jacket and sheathed it back. The smile was still on his face, and the look in his eye was gone, replaced with confusion.

"Eh... where am I now?"

He shrugged, walking away from the bloody massacre scene with the corpses quickly disappearing into clocks. Shadows started gathering about as he turned away.

Certainly, it was just another everyday event during a normal day for the Knight of Hearts.

...

Alice didn't know when she blacked out. All she could remember was running away from that strange pond, into the dark of the forest. She could remember how the forest began to rustle again, and how the animal noises soon stopped; she also vaguely remembered a voice speaking, but that might've been her imagination more than anything.

Although, if there were one thing she absolutely had to admit at that moment, it was the fact that her body hurt like _heck_. She had fallen asleep (or collapsed) in an awkward way, lying on a messy patch of grass and branches with few leaves to act as a softening cushion. She had figured this out the hard way, her body sore and muscles crying with every millimetre of movement.

"Ugh," she groaned. "Why does my life suck so much..."

"Why does whose life suck?" a voice asked from the bushes behind her.

She jumped slightly, groaning from the movement, as she whipped her head back. Alice was met face-to-face as she saw a man's face. Brunet hair, blood-red eyes, wearing a red jacket, with some black outfit underneath. Admittedly, she had to say that he was quite handsome. The thought she pushed away as a blush slightly arised, having that their faces were a mere inch apart. She rapidly stepped back, tripping; she was easily saved by the man who caught her in time.

"Ah, you might want to be careful; that was a close call, no?" he asked, grinning as she righted herself back up.

"Yes, er, thanks..." Alice gave him a suspicious look; she could see a spots of blood on his red jacket, very well hidden with the red scheme, but her good eyesight spotted it out.

"Oh, right—my name's Ace. I'm the Knight of Hearts, from the Heart Castle," he said brightly. "How about you?"

"... I'm Alice Liddell." She gave a hesitant smile before asking, "Is... is that your blood?"

He looked surprised at the question before waving it off easily. "Of course not. Don't worry too much about it. Anyways, it's great meeting you Alice."

Her suspicions about him rose even more with how casually he waved off the blood. _Does that mean it's the blood of someone else? Clearly, that's the only answer to the blood not being his... so he's a murderer?_ The thought was alarming, but she shook it off. _No. This is my dream, isn't it? So that means that I can't be harmed in it._

"Do you know where the Clock Tower is?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, you're heading there as well? Perfect, we can go there together!"

Ace grabbed her wrist and began dragging her along at a rather fast pace, not making any attempt in slowing down for the poor girl. His large grin was contagious, as Alice had a small smile on.

But she couldn't help thinking that Ace was a rather forceful person...

Oh how right she was there.

...

"You _again_?!"

"Hm? What do you mean by 'you again'?" Ace asked, a questioning look on his face.

"Damn bloody Knight of Hearts! Don't tell me you're lost again!"

Alice looked at the enraged man curiously; he wore a long dark coat with a purple scarf decorated with spider embroidery; under the coat was a green outfit of some sort. Straps of leather went from his shoulder to hip and acted as a belt as well, holding a gun on his right. But the gun wasn't what caught her attention. What caught her attention were his rabbit ears. For a moment, she thought he was just some creepy, loud-mouthed, cosplay freak... before those ears twitched in a manner that showed irritancy.

Rabbit ears... twitch... real... not cosplay... Interesting, interesting, interesting rabbit ears...

The urge to want to touch those ears was too strong; she ran up to the man without a moment's hesitation before quickly stopping; she stopped her hands just in time so that it looked like she was going to stop any fighting from happening rather than grabbing a fistful of fuzziness...

Interesting, interesting ears...

"A-ah, I'm Alice Liddell. Nice to meet you." Her smile faltered a moment, her eyes looking up—not just regular _above_ , but UP. He was at least two metres tall, for goodness sake! And she felt short earlier... now she felt like an absolute midget. She looked up a bit higher and saw those brown rabbit ears twitch again.

Very interesting, interesting...

 _Must. Not. Touch,_ she kept telling herself strictly. _Do. Not. Grab._

He looked at her suspiciously, almost hostile. "Are you a spy? No, that's not right; you're with this _directionally-challenged dumbass_ —" he pointed a rather rude finger at clueless Ace "—aren't you? Out of all people, why would you let HIM lead the way?!"

Alice stared, dumbstruck. "D-directionally challenged?"

The orange-haired man narrowed his eyes. "Yes. This guy here—"he jabbed a rude thumb at Ace "—is Wonderland's most directionally-challenged being. Actually, that may be underestimating his travel senses. He wouldn't be able to find his way out of a cardboard box even with the most detailed of directions and signs pointing the right way."

He soon began on a rant, using some less-than-pleasant names to substitute Ace's—it was clear that the man did not see pleasure in seeing the red-coated knight, nor did they share any friendship. Not that Alice was one to think of that.

She almost didn't notice that the orange-haired man shot his gun at Ace, almost hitting her, till Ace pulled her away.

"You know, Alice... you need to pay attention more," he said cheerily, hiding her behind the safety of a tree. He casually slid his sword out of its sheath, telling her, "Stay behind that tree, or else you might get shot. And you don't want that happening, do you?"

"N-no, of course not," Alice said nervously, eyeing the bullets that flew past the tree (almost miraculously missing the Knight). "Be careful, all right...?"

Ace didn't give a response, but rather jumped out of the way of the numerous bullets with amazing agility. He seemed to enrage the other man even more as he deflected and dodged without a second thought; somehow, that lead to an uproar of colourful profanities that would forever damage Alice's mind. Her mind, admittedly not the cleanest, wasn't exactly the dirtiest either. Though that didn't mean that she needed to hear such... _interesting_ pieces of vocabulary.

"Hey, blondie rabbit! What're you doing?"

The voices of two young boys rang out, following with twins running excitedly over with pole-axes. She gulped at the sight, wondering why in the name of God was everyone flinging around dangerous weapons like it was nothing. _What type of dream is this, anyways?! Did I do anything to deserve this type of..._ She let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. _Well, there was that one time nine years ago where I stole a cookie from the cookie jar... but that's not the point!_

"Ugh, knight, why are you here at the Hatter's Mansion?" one of the boys, one with a blue uniform (the other wearing red), asked quite irritably.

"Huh? This is the Hatter's Mansion?" Ace asked, turning his head whilst blocking another of the orange-haired man's bullets. "I was so sure that I was heading towards the Clock Tower just now..."

This little example of idiocy caused the twins and the orange-haired man to erupt in a series of annoyed insults and the like, with Ace responding much too optimistically. Of course, this lead to an even bigger fight with the twins now joined into it. Needless to say, it seemed like a one-sided fight (or is it three-sided?) with Ace winning.

 _._ _.. What the heck is with all these people and fighting?! Don't they realize someone innocent could get hurt?_

"Are you troubled, m'lady?" a smooth voice asked, surprising her.

"I swear I didn't steal a cookie from the cookie jar, mother!" Alice exclaimed, breaking out of her train of thoughts. She panickedly turned around to face a man... who looked exactly like her ex-boyfriend. During that one moment, she didn't focus on how _identical_ the two men's' appearance appeared; rather, she focused on how she had blurted out such a childish statement. To a stranger, a _fully-grown male_ stranger. Who was no doubt older than her.

 _Oh, what a_ lovely _way to introduce myself,_ she thought to herself dryly.

The man raised an eyebrow. "And I don't doubt that for a second, Miss...?"

"Oh! Um, er... please excuse me, my name's Alice; Alice Liddell, it is," she said, blushing deeply in embarrassment.

He chuckled. "My name's Blood Dupré. Please excuse my employees' behaviour..." He bowed, taking Alice's hand and gently kissing her knuckles.

Further did Alice's face turn red. "Er... it's no problem..."

Blood chuckled again before walking into the midst of the fight. She panicked, realizing that it was too dangerous; she reached out her hand and was about to call out a warning, but was surprised to see that Ace and the other man had stopped fighting with a simple movement of his cane. That is, a simple movement of a cane wedged between pistol and sword...

"Elliott, Dee, Dum; you all owe this young lady an apology," he said sternly, his tone more of a demand than scolding. "Honestly, causing her such trouble..."

The man with orange hair, who Alice easily presumed to be "Elliott", looked quite angry, but held back and looked down in what looked to be—was that _shame_? The twins didn't look so apologetic nor shamed, or anything else of that matter, but instead claimed, "It's all that dumb knight's fault! He got lost _again_. Say, boss, can't we just kill him or something?"

"Ahahaha, I don't think you can kill me so easily like that," Ace said breezily, laughing it off. He then turned to Alice and gestured for her to come out of hiding, which she did so with hesitation. "Right, Alice?"

"I don't really know," Alice said. "Especially considering the fact that I only met you hours ago."

"Aww, I feel so hurt!"

"You don't seem like it," she muttered loudly.

"The girl's right, so stop talking, damn knight," Elliott said, threatening to take out his pistol again.

"Now, Elliott..." Blood warned, and the hare backed away, if not reluctantly.

"So... who's the pretty lady over there?" one of the twins asked, pointing at Alice.

"Ah, this lady here?" Blood repeated, an interested look appearing on his face.

"Could it be that she's boss's woman?" the other twin asked.

"B-Blood! Is that true? How come you've never told me?!" Elliott exclaimed in shock. "I'm your loyal dog, aren't I?"

 _You're a hare, not a dog..._ Alice managed to resist the urge to blurt that out loud, for the sake of politeness. _Wait... "boss's woman"...?_

"W-what? I'm not anyone's woman!" she yelled, an indignant look plastered on her face.

"So does that mean you're free?"

"I'm not interested in any romantic relationships or falling in love, and that's final," Alice stated firmly with a huff.

Blood cleared his throat clearly; everyone turned to him and said nothing. It was like an unspoken agreement of some sort that he was to be listened to. _I wonder if he's their employer...?_ The thought passed Alice, and she was quite sure of it.

However, it didn't seem like Ace was one to pick up the mood.

"Ahahaha... so, can you guys give me the direction to the Clock Tower?"

"Shut up, stupid knight!"

Once again, the top hat-wearing man cleared his throat, and this time, everyone decided to not talk.

"This young lady here, as I was saying earlier, is a foreigner," Blood explained.

"My name is Alice Liddell, just call me Alice, please," she said, smiling.

"Yo, nice to meet you, Alice! Sorry for earlier, but that damned knight—" he once again jabbed a thumb at Ace "—just is so irritating. I'm Elliott March, by the way. And on another note, I'm _not_ a rabbit!"

"No, you're not, but you are a hare," Alice pointed out. "Which is related to the rabbit family."

"Hah! See, chickie rabbit? Even pretty lady says that you're a rabbit!" the twin in red said, laughing.

"You damned brats, I'm _not_ a rabbit! I'm a dog. Right, Blood?"

Said man mumbled an agreement, turning away slightly. While everyone else thought that it wasn't much of an agreement, much less a real one, Elliott thought otherwise.

"See? Even Blood agrees with me," he gloated.

Somehow, Alice managed to resist the strongest urge to facepalm. She already did that too many times in her head when she found out that Ace was directionally challenged. And 'too many times' was already a scary amount.

The twins decided to let it drop, seeing as their attempt to enrage the man ended up pleasing him more than not.

"So, pretty lady..."

Alice blushed slightly at the nickname, inwardly thinking of how cute the boys were.

"I'm Tweedle Dee," said the blue twin.

The red one grinned as he introduced himself. "And I'm Tweedle Dum. Say, the lady's very pretty, right brother?"

By then, she was starting to wonder if Blood had taught some type of tricks to the twins on hitting on girls. His gentlemanly manners were no doubt some type of scheme to make her fall for him, but the idea of two fourteen-year-olds like Dee and Dum (she presumed their age to be as such) to be taught such things were a bit...

Yet, she couldn't help but feel quite flattered as she let out a thanks.

"Pretty lady is very pretty! Are you sure you aren't free?"

Alice sighed again. "Sorry, I told you already that, while I'm not dating anyone, I'm _absolutely not_ interested in dating anyone."

"Does that mean that pretty lady doesn't like us?" the boys asked simultaneously, their eyes wide and tear-filled.

 _Guh! So... cute... cannot... fall to their tricks though... but...! So cute! Just..._

"Um, Blood, I hope you don't mind, but do you think you can give directions to the Clock Tower?" Alice asked, doing her best to avert her gaze from the twins' puppy-dog eyes. (Which were, mind you, _very_ hard to resist.)

"Of course not, young lady," Blood said with a smile. "In fact, I'll send a guide with you. Elliott, would you mind doing the honours? After all, it's the least you could do after today's events."

Elliott let out a surprisingly hearty agreement, especially considering that he was hating on Ace so heavily early on. _Then this trip will turn out to be peaceful; thank goodness, I didn't think I could tolerate more after the events previously..._

...

So maybe Alice's last thoughts before departing the Hatter Residence wasn't so correct.

In fact, after they'd left and entered the forest, Ace had started getting on Elliott's nerves... which lead to another fight. Somehow, it ended up with the two men disappearing off somewhere and leaving Alice in the midst of the forest. All alone.

"Lovely," she said under her breath, "just what else can go wrong today?"

As if by some spontaneous cue, daylight decided to change into evening.

"Better than nighttime, at least." Realizing she might have jinxed herself, she warily checked the sky—to see that it stayed in its hues of reds and yellows. "Thank goodness..."

For a moment, it seemed like the evening threatened to disappear into night. Maybe that was just her eyes playing horrid tricks on her, seeing as it was evening the next moment.

Sighing, she decided to make her way through the forest to try find the Clock Tower—wherever it was—before night came. Or before fatigue took over; both seemed to be none-too-pleasant for her as various thoughts conjured up in her mind. Most of them being unpleasant situations in what could happen to her during the night.

Needless to say, none of the thoughts were all that pleasant.

"This is going to be a long day," she muttered, squinting her eyes as the sun flashed into her eye. "Hopefully I'll find the Clock Tower in one piece..."


End file.
